On Saturday, he broke through. Gallo launched his 40th homer of the year off of A's starter Daniel Gossett in the second inning of the Rangers' 8-4 win, which put the Rangers on the board and gave them the lead for good.

"Off the bat, I was like, 'It's over. I can just enjoy it and play again,'" he said. "So yeah, I was pretty happy about that one."

Gallo became just the sixth player in Rangers history to crack the 40-homer mark and first since Josh Hamilton hit 43 in 2012. To finally break through meant a great deal to Gallo, and seeing the ball fly over the fence brought a smile to his face he didn't even try to hide as he circled the bases, fireworks booming over the Arlington sky.

"I got close, and down the stretch I was like, 'Man, if I don't hit one, I'm going to be pretty upset at myself,'" Gallo said. "So today was a little relief off of my shoulders. … I mean, I didn't really care at that point."

Then, for good measure, he added his 41st in the third inning. This one landed in the second deck in right field, just above a portal a handful of rows up.

Saturday marked his fourth career multi-homer game -- all at home, and all this season. He became the first Ranger with four-plus multi-homer games at home since Alfonso Soriano (five) and Mark Teixeira (four) in 2005.

The 41-homer campaign is a far cry from what Gallo expected coming into the year, especially after a season ago when he had just one hit in 30 at-bats. Gallo went from an uncertain role at the start of the season to being an important part of the Rangers' lineup moving forward.

"It culminates the year for a player who came into camp on a mission to make the team," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "He proved to everybody he is a Major League player."